by Scott McIntyre on Tuesday, August 11, 2009
4One of the uglier and most misleading statements to come out of the debates over health care reform has been the contention that the current House bill would enact a “death panel” that would decide who would and would not receive health care. Others have said the bill requires Medicare recipients to receive end-of-life counseling that will encourage assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Such ridiculous accusations would be laughable if the issue of end-of-life care was not so serious and misunderstood.
What the bill actually does is, for the first time, authorize Medicare to pay physicians when they provide end-of-life counseling at the request of a Medicare patient.
Along with health care providers, consumer organizations and groups representing senior citizens support this provision because it will encourage people to think and do something about end-of-life care, like drafting a living will or issuing a durable power of attorney. By bringing physicians into the discussion and process, it’s more likely that a patient’s wishes will be respected.
Advance directives – living wills and durable power of attorney – are important to hospitals because they can determine the course of care for a seriously ill or injured patient. To help patients, their families and their physicians, IHA has joined with the Iowa Medical Society and Iowa State Bar Association to distribute brochures on advance directives to hospitals across the state.
In fact, hospitals are required by the federal government to ask adult patients if they have advance directives and to provide assistance in drafting advance directives if a patient desires. That requirement was created under federal law nearly 20 years ago.
Great article which expresses the truth and true need of end-of-life counseling. Healthcare is years away from proper reform in my opinion, but getting the facts out about reform options should be every providers and administrators duty, now and in the future.
In this ongoing debate, the facts are most important. Just like during the presidential elections, a lot of groups and individuals are speaking out and shouting, but all of it needs to be boiled down and reviewed before people take things to heart.
The “death panel” representation is just as ingenuous and misleading as the suppositions are that wellness, prevention, and electronic health records will save enough funds to pay for everything for everybody, or that a public plan will not lead to elimination of current healthcare plans or lack of choice. Both sides of the reform issue are distorting reality with little appreciation of the great healthcare we now have and that everyone wants, and little to no effort being made to actually identify cost drivers and deal with them, such as tort reform, new technology, new drugs, new services, and more enrollees in entitlement programs, etc. Without addressing “cost” issues, we can pass all of the “access” legislation that anyone cares to propose, and healthcare financing issues will only become worse and more difficult to deal with in the future. Reformers are attempting to replace the age old concept of insurance with an up front “prepaid plan” for everyone, and the working employee is the only source of funding for the prepayment of healthcare for everyone, through federal, state, and local taxes, premiums, copays and deductibles. See http://healthcarecosts-wwblogspot.com
This is a limited source of funding contrary to what appears to be the legislature’s view!
Current reform proposals are not reform at all. They appear to be more of the same thing that has been happening for many years. IE. Lets have government plans that provide access, but do not pay cost and hope providers find some way to make up the government cost shortfalls. Only problem is that providers are running out of ways to accomplish this, and the public plan is likely to reduce/eliminate cost shifting which is the only mechanism left.
No matter which side of the debate you are on, we do need to quit using exaggerated, misleading, and wishful thinking myths and get about the business of dealing with real costs, real reasons for the costs, and make some intelligent decisions about what we can afford, with input from consumers, providers, insurers, and our representatives. And in any case, there is no need to pass a healthcare reform bill in a matter of weeks or months just because of the desire to do so or a campaign promise. There are too many unintended consequences that could result from getting it wrong.